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wrextnight t1_ja3n6w7 wrote

Imagine having rabies and finding yourself in a huge ass body of water. You'd probably explode from hydrophobia.

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xxBeatrixKiddoxx t1_ja56fi3 wrote

Dude. Someone link that ONE rabies thing. I do it Everytime … should I learn how to do it myself? Yes… have I yet? No

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soulsista04us t1_ja57k3l wrote

Rabies is scary.

Rabies. It's exceptionally common, but people just don't run into the animals that carry it often. Skunks especially, and bats.

Let me paint you a picture.

You go camping, and at midday you decide to take a nap in a nice little hammock. While sleeping, a tiny brown bat, in the "rage" stages of infection is fidgeting in broad daylight, uncomfortable, and thirsty (due to the hydrophobia) and you snort, startling him. He goes into attack mode.

Except you're asleep, and he's a little brown bat, so weighs around 6 grams. You don't even feel him land on your bare knee, and he starts to bite. His teeth are tiny. Hardly enough to even break the skin, but he does manage to give you the equivalent of a tiny scrape that goes completely unnoticed.

Rabies does not travel in your blood. In fact, a blood test won't even tell you if you've got it. (Antibody tests may be done, but are useless if you've ever been vaccinated.)

You wake up, none the wiser. If you notice anything at the bite site at all, you assume you just lightly scraped it on something.

The bomb has been lit, and your nervous system is the wick. The rabies will multiply along your nervous system, doing virtually no damage, and completely undetectable. You literally have NO symptoms.

It may be four days, it may be a year, but the camping trip is most likely long forgotten. Then one day your back starts to ache... Or maybe you get a slight headache?

At this point, you're already dead. There is no cure.

(The sole caveat to this is the Milwaukee Protocol, which leaves most patients dead anyway, and the survivors mentally disabled, and is seldom done).

There's no treatment. It has a 100% kill rate.

Absorb that. Not a single other virus on the planet has a 100% kill rate. Only rabies. And once you're symptomatic, it's over. You're dead.

So what does that look like?

Your headache turns into a fever, and a general feeling of being unwell. You're fidgety. Uncomfortable. And scared. As the virus that has taken its time getting into your brain finds a vast network of nerve endings, it begins to rapidly reproduce, starting at the base of your brain... Where your "pons" is located. This is the part of the brain that controls communication between the rest of the brain and body, as well as sleep cycles.

Next you become anxious. You still think you have only a mild fever, but suddenly you find yourself becoming scared, even horrified, and it doesn't occur to you that you don't know why. This is because the rabies is chewing up your amygdala.

As your cerebellum becomes hot with the virus, you begin to lose muscle coordination, and balance. You think maybe it's a good idea to go to the doctor now, but assuming a doctor is smart enough to even run the tests necessary in the few days you have left on the planet, odds are they'll only be able to tell your loved ones what you died of later.

You're twitchy, shaking, and scared. You have the normal fear of not knowing what's going on, but with the virus really fucking the amygdala this is amplified a hundred fold. It's around this time the hydrophobia starts.

You're horribly thirsty, you just want water. But you can't drink. Every time you do, your throat clamps shut and you vomit. This has become a legitimate, active fear of water. You're thirsty, but looking at a glass of water begins to make you gag, and shy back in fear. The contradiction is hard for your hot brain to see at this point. By now, the doctors will have to put you on IVs to keep you hydrated, but even that's futile. You were dead the second you had a headache.

You begin hearing things, or not hearing at all as your thalamus goes. You taste sounds, you see smells, everything starts feeling like the most horrifying acid trip anyone has ever been on. With your hippocampus long under attack, you're having trouble remembering things, especially family.

You're alone, hallucinating, thirsty, confused, and absolutely, undeniably terrified. Everything scares the literal shit out of you at this point. These strange people in lab coats. These strange people standing around your bed crying, who keep trying to get you "drink something" and crying. And it's only been about a week since that little headache that you've completely forgotten. Time means nothing to you anymore. Funny enough, you now know how the bat felt when he bit you.

Eventually, you slip into the "dumb rabies" phase. Your brain has started the process of shutting down. Too much of it has been turned to liquid virus. Your face droops. You drool. You're all but unaware of what's around you. A sudden noise or light might startle you, but for the most part, it's all you can do to just stare at the ground. You haven't really slept for about 72 hours.

Then you die. Always, you die.

And there's not one... fucking... thing... anyone can do for you.

Then there's the question of what to do with your corpse. I mean, sure, burying it is the right thing to do. But the fucking virus can survive in a corpse for years. You could kill every rabid animal on the planet today, and if two years from now, some moist, preserved, rotten hunk of used-to-be brain gets eaten by an animal, it starts all over.

So yeah, rabies scares the shit out of me. And it's fucking EVERYWHERE. (Source: Spent a lot of time working with rabies. Would still get my vaccinations if I could afford them.)

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ZombieHomeslice t1_ja5j8t0 wrote

>Then there's the question of what to do with your corpse. I mean, sure, burying it is the right thing to do. But the fucking virus can survive in a corpse for years. You could kill every rabid animal on the planet today, and if two years from now, some moist, preserved, rotten hunk of used-to-be brain gets eaten by an animal, it starts all over.

The stomach acids of vultures kills rabies. They're an incredibly important part of the ecosystem for this reason. They can eat most any diseased thing and poop it out sterile. Rabies is scary and vultures are awesome.

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addsomezest t1_ja5zf1y wrote

There’s a great quote in the show, “Bones” where one Doctor states that battery acid is akin to a mild salsa for a vulture.

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Sesamechama t1_ja6nx0c wrote

Vultures are hardcore! 😳 I have a newfound appreciation and deep respect for them.

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phatbob198 t1_ja5moaw wrote

And then I said, "Supposing you brought the vulture's stomach acid inside the body: you can - which you can do - either through the skin er... uh... in some other way? And I think you said you're gonna test that too... sounds interesting."

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ILuvMemes4Breakfast t1_ja5jk1h wrote

man took 30 minutes of his life to scare mfs straight lmao imma start getting rabies vaccines weekly

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bulboustadpole t1_ja6s8my wrote

Unless you've been bitten by an animal known to carry rabies there's no need. The fear mongering around rabies is absolutely insane.

The US is one of the largest countries in the world and often the rabies vaccine isn't covered by health plans.

You know how many people die per year in the US due to rabies?

3-5 people. You're literally more likely to be killed by lightning or win the mega millions jackpot than die to rabies.

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Hutch25 t1_ja8oz7c wrote

That’s the thing. People don’t get bit by anything that would carry rabies very often. And in an age of countless antibiotics odds are you clean it out before anything happens anyways like hydrogen peroxide which is very common in many households. Got Lysol wipes in your house? Well those work against rabies.

Also, most scavenger animals have a defence against it. Especially the most common stereotypical ones.

Most scavengers have characteristics which defend against it like:

Raccoons being picky eaters

Vultures being able to kill the virus with their stomachs

Most bats exclusively eat bugs or mice, and when bats do get infected they are often thrown out of their packs to starve to death, or killed on the spot.

Just about everyone vaccinates their pets

And weirdly enough mice and rats themselves don’t even get infected very often, they are very good at picking good food to eat in most situations.

Most animals a human will ever meet wouldn’t get infected, and when they do most people know to stay away and or are vaccinated.

If it was as dangerous to us as some people think, we would be all dead by now. But because it’s so rare to catch we can just kinda live our lives.

1

RektalTrauma t1_ja5kksl wrote

Bro fr idk why I read all that but now I'm gonna go get like 6 shots

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DrMonkeyLove t1_ja5i7ft wrote

I hate this fucking thing because it's just scare mongering. In the US, dying from rabies is incredibly unlikely, like, 1 in 300,000,000 unlikely. You should be much more concerned about your commute to work or eating too much saturated fat before you worry about rabies.

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CPlus902 t1_ja5j3wj wrote

Yes and no. Deaths in the US are exceedingly rare, but it's only because of how seriously we take rabies here. If you are infected and do not receive treatment before symptoms manifest, it is 100% fatal.

The good thing is that it is pretty easy to avoid rabies exposure in the US. Just maintain a safe distance from wild animals, as you should in any case.

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danimagoo t1_ja5sxpe wrote

>but it's only because of how seriously we take rabies here

Specifically, it's because we mandate rabies vaccines for dogs. Worldwide, 99% of rabies deaths in humans are caused by dogs. Once you get about 70% of the dog population vaccinated, and keep it there, human deaths drop to essentially zero.

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eileen404 t1_ja5vmvk wrote

But if you touch one so get the shots.... Or if you don't have insurance in the USA, take a holiday in another country and get them there as even with the hotel and place tickets it'll be cheaper.

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Mithras_ t1_ja6izfc wrote

You have to pay for rabies shots in the US? Why the fuck

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Leo_br00ks t1_ja6knha wrote

Lol you have to pay for everything in the US. 1.2 mile ambulance ride was $3500 lmfao. Insurance didn’t cover it at all. I once got a $800 shot of penicillin — insurance covered $15 of it.

Last year my household (2 people) spent $29k on medical. $10000 on insurance, $10000 in necessary surgeries, and $8000 on prescriptions, dr visits, and whatever the fuck else.

Thank god I have freedom of speech lol

Edit: just reread, and to clarify, my insurance was high deductible with an $18000 threshold. Both people in household basically reached the threshold but did not exceed.

For the non Americans, if we had needed much more health coverage, it would primarily be free or mostly covered from there on. The point of a high deductible plan is that it’s cheaper (as self employed people this is the main draw, as my employer doesn’t cover anything) but covers you if something really bad happens. If I got cancer, my million dollar bill would be covered. Paying out of pocket for great coverage (what I have this year) would be about $25000 instead of $10000, but this is paid by an employer (100% in our case). I pay literally nothing extra. My extra expenses this year have been less than $200.

P2 requires surgery that isn’t covered by this new great insurance, so there’s another $11000. So there’s no winning here lol

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Mithras_ t1_ja6lylk wrote

That’s insane. I know it happens but I always find it hard to wrap my head around. Did you also have to pay for covid vaccination?

1

Leo_br00ks t1_ja6nnsv wrote

We didn’t have to (govt paid them like $2 or $4 a shot or something). Now that the “emergency status” or whatever is ending (over?) we may have to start paying.

Most insurances will cover it I’m sure. But if you don’t have it, it’ll be like $100 a shot or so. There were articles a while ago about Moderna bumping the price way up lol

Like the flu shot. They’re trying to get as many people to take it, so a lot of places will take your insurance and just bill them the most they can to cover for the people who have 0 coverage. This is like Walgreens and stuff. A Dr office is different.

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Mithras_ t1_ja6sb4z wrote

Thanks for the explanation :) You have to pay for the flu shot here too (Egypt) but the Covid and Rabies vaccine are free including for visitors so if someone fancies a trip it might actually be cheaper to fly here and get them you weren’t joking

1

Leo_br00ks t1_ja6smie wrote

With insurance covering it, rabies cost should be no more than $200.

BUT you have to have insurance that will cover it. My new insurance will cover it but my old one wouldn’t have unless I was over the $18000 deductible for the year.

When I got my yellow fever shot, it was $250 bc insurance didn’t deem it necessary

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Mithras_ t1_ja6szb6 wrote

Yellow Fever isn’t endemic to the states right? You have to pay for it here too but that makes sense since it’s actually unnecessary unless you wish to travel which is on you — allowing things like covid and rabies to go untreated is a public safety hazard though

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Leo_br00ks t1_jabrzoz wrote

Correct. Just for travel. And only to risk prone countries. Don’t need it for travel into most “western” nations

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eileen404 t1_ja7ben8 wrote

No I wasn't. And you should get your knee replacement surgery while you're there. It costs more than most make in a year. My daughter got hurt in Canada and we laughed at the doctor apologetically giving us a bill for$98. They gave us copies of the paperwork so we could file it to insurance when we got home and we laughed because out of network had a $5k deductable before it started converting at 80%.

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Nero_PR t1_ja7ta25 wrote

Here you get a scrap somewhere and people always go for the rabies shot. It's plain and simple.

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Mithras_ t1_ja8f88t wrote

So make the first course free for everyone. You’ll likely have enough immunity by then even if you get bitten again and if you need to take regular preventative shots due to the risk of your work or hobbies you can pay for it

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bulboustadpole t1_ja6r3f6 wrote

>Yes and no. Deaths in the US are exceedingly rare, but it's only because of how seriously we take rabies here.

Well no this is not why. How many people do you think actually go and get the whole series of vaccines? Very little, and yet are under 10 deaths per year.

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KairuByte t1_ja6xas8 wrote

We treat rabies seriously in other ways. Rabies vaccines are required for all dogs, for instance.

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Changshomelesscat t1_ja82ibh wrote

Or the 45k children in America that die of gun violence and gun accidents every year.

1

ITstaph t1_ja5b4rm wrote

I have read less terrifying thing on r/nosleep.

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Tight_Stable8737 t1_ja63vs0 wrote

I've seen this post dozens of times but it never fails to reignite my fear of rabies. Hell, this continually reposted PSA is what started my fear.

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its_not_you_its_ye t1_ja5ozwv wrote

Damn. Somebody should raise awareness about this disease

10

MadMagilla5113 t1_ja6oot8 wrote

Like The Michael Scott's Dunder Mifflin Scranton Meredith Palmer Memorial Celebrity Rabies Awareness Pro-Am Fun-Run Race For the Cure?

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cvaninvan t1_ja6bzi0 wrote

And my hypochondria just exploded all over me....

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bulboustadpole t1_ja6qyik wrote

In 2021 in the United States 5 people out of 330+ million died from rabies. It's exceptionally rare in humans.

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DomDom1690 t1_ja5tjxa wrote

I used to take rabies before my college football games! Got me going!

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SimplyPassinThrough t1_ja650cl wrote

where did you get this from? I’ve read it before, almost word for word, maybe a youtube video comment? It even started with the hammock bay story. Edit to add that at the end of the original comment, they said how rabies isn’t so scary in America bc we have such control over it. Third world countries are not so lucky, and have hundreds maybe even thousands of death per year.

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snugglepimp t1_ja6jbe4 wrote

I probably shouldn’t have read that right before bed.

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Snap111 t1_ja6vbw3 wrote

Welp, now it scares the shit out of me too...

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zipcad t1_ja7eluk wrote

Sort of.

If you get vaccinated (1, 3, 7, 14) days after exposure 100% live. Anything later it gets lower and fast.

3 people last year in the United States died of rabies.

By the way, the vaccine existed since 1885.

1

trentbatty t1_ja7hme9 wrote

Yeah… fuck bats. And fuck rabies. I’m never going camping again. 😅

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fixaclm t1_ja3vulr wrote

They are notorious for carrying rabies, and people don't even realize they were bit a lot of times. There has only been one documented rabies survivor after symptoms start showing. You might want to think about getting the shots.

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LinaEveLina t1_ja4jm18 wrote

Updated- Let me add that my cats have always been vaccinated with the rabies shot. I should have added in the original comment that they were due that month for their shot again, after 3 years from their last vaccine. We ended up bringing them in earlier because I was worried. I know the importance of having them vaccinated for their own health and any human that comes in contact with them.

I'm in upstate NY. Over the summer, a bat had flown into my screened in porch. Both my cats had ran into the porch before we realized a bat was inside. My cats were not going to come inside once they spotted the bat. We couldn't do anything about it because it was flying around like you see on TV, all crazy and erratic. My cats ended up killing the bat. I was so worried I took my cats to the vet. I mailed the dead bat the bat to the health department where they would test to see if it carried rabies. Luckily, the bat didn't have rabies, so my babies were safe.

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jupitaur9 t1_ja7kcby wrote

Your cats don’t get rabies shots? They should.

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Cautious-Rub t1_ja853sp wrote

They absolutely should andit’s required by law in every state unless a veterinarian deems there is an anaphylactic risk and in some states there are no exemptions.

Not sure why you are getting down voted. I’ve had the same argument with clients for a decade “bUt ThEy DoNt Go OuTsIdE”. Doesn’t matter, it’s the law, and animals escape outside all the time; also do you want your unvaccinated pet to have to go on a 6 month round of quarantine if it bites someone? (Don’t give me that shit; if they have teeth they can fucking bite).

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LinaEveLina t1_jab0bie wrote

Of course they do. When all this happened, they were actually due that month for their shots again. Last shot was 3 years ago from that point.

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AuryxTheDutchman t1_ja4su9x wrote

There have been like two dozen survivors, but that’s out of thousands of cases. Mortality rate is almost 100%.

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fixaclm t1_ja57ir3 wrote

Yep. Looks like it. They really started counting since the girl in New England survived. I bet the shot would still be a good idea, though.

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Sackyhack t1_ja52obq wrote

They aren’t likely to carry rabies, however if you find one away from the rest of its group it may have rabies. They typically stay in groups but if one gets rabies they shun it from the pack.

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Feyranna t1_ja72aw6 wrote

Eh depends on particular species. Not all bats stay in a big pile lots spread out for hunting bugs which could easily lead to it winding up in a pool alone. Still would keep several layers of towel between me and it for safety and contact the local wildlife rescue. They can quarantine it.

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arsenix t1_ja6lg1r wrote

Bats pretty much never have rabies if they are flying around/healthy. People who get rabies from bats are typically picking them up off the ground when they are in the process of dying (ie POTENTIALLY JUST LIKE THIS ONE). I love bats but would never touch one!

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UngaBunga-2 t1_ja51klu wrote

theres have been 29 rabies survivors

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7266186/#sec1-1title

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inuhi t1_ja551ff wrote

It's not like they were taking naps outside they found it in a outdoor pool and probably got it out with a pool rake. They would know if they were bit in this situation.

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bulboustadpole t1_ja6rhkw wrote

That's pure fear-mongering.

Rabies cases in humans are extremely rare and only about 3-5 people a year in the United States die of it. The "didn't realize they were bit" is also bullshit and there are no cases I can find of it happening.

If unnoticed bites transmitting rabies was common, there would be more than 3-5 deaths a year in a country of 330,000,000 people.

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fixaclm t1_ja83i92 wrote

The woman from New England that lived (first documented case) got bit by a bat and didn't know it. Not fear mongering.

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rocketwidget t1_ja5qxxr wrote

Hey OP, here's what the CDC says to do in your exact situation:

https://www.cdc.gov/rabies/animals/bats/index.html

>If you are outdoors:
>
>...
>
>If you are outside and have direct contact with a bat, you should talk to a healthcare or public health professional to decide if you need to be vaccinated to prevent rabies.

also

>A bat that is unable to fly and is easily approached could be sick.

also

>Bat bites can be very small.

Rabies is a fatal disease. A tiny, sometimes unnoticeable bite can transmit rabies. It can also be prevented after bites with a vaccine.

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Ih8MyBrosWife t1_ja69oo4 wrote

I watched my wife get these needles. Op is in for a great time. The needles are huge af and he will probably need about 8 of them on his first dose. That said if he keeps the bat they can test that and hope it doesn't have rabies.

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Mithras_ t1_ja6jkw6 wrote

How long ago was this? You need 4 doses of the modern rabies vaccine, and they aren’t any worse than any other injection

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Ih8MyBrosWife t1_ja6kx68 wrote

4 seperate times you need to get a dose. Her first was 5 needles. The amount you need per session is based on weight. The nurse literally said to me you are lucky you didn't get bit because you would need much larger dose. This was 2019. Also you don't know wtf you are talking about. the needle was massive.... All 5 of them

Edit 2 of the needles were right into the thigh.... Looked bad

−11

No_Advantage9759 t1_ja6r5ld wrote

I had rabies shots (5 doses in total) and they were definitely similar to flu shots. This was in 2017... I felt a minor pinch and that was it. The experience you are talking about is kind of fishy as adults usually don't get more than 5 doses of rabies shots anymore... and through thighs, those are for pediatric patients. I don't know where you live but it sounds like a shitty healthcare system if this is legit.

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caaarlyj t1_ja71ujh wrote

This is super anecdotal though. The pain felt from the shots is dependent on the individual.

Immunoglobulin is also administered as close to the exposure site as possible, usually infiltrating directly into the wound, so they are absolutely correct.

2

caaarlyj t1_ja71iid wrote

It’s the immunoglobulin that is weight dependent, and is usually injected as close as possible to the exposure site. Anyone who hasn’t had prior rabies vaccinations needs to be administered this.

If you’ve had the round of 3 vaccinations prior to exposure, you only need to do the 3 post exposure shots with no need for immunoglobulin.

So you’re absolutely right, 4 shots total but initial round is a series of shots to ensure the right amount of immunoglobulin.

3

bulboustadpole t1_ja6r7rl wrote

> A tiny, sometimes unnoticeable bite can transmit rabies.

This is very much a myth and there's been little to no cases of this actually happening. If this was true there would be more than 3-5 deaths a year in a country of 330,000,000.

Rabies is literally one of the rarest and most uncommon diseases in the United States in humans.

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rocketwidget t1_ja7iqu1 wrote

Please see the CDC source:

> Bat bites can be very small

Rabies is very rare in the US because of a robust anti-rabies effort including animal control and preventative shots. It certainly didn't used to be very rare in the US and it's still not very rare in other parts of the world.

For example, ~60,000 Americans get shots each year, a big part of why we keep deaths at ~3-5 each year.

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Cautious-Rub t1_ja847eu wrote

You are wrong. Rabies can be transmitted if you have a small cut or wound on your hand (ie paper cut) and you come in contact with saliva that’s infected with rabies .

This is how outbreaks occur. People get complacent and start saying vaccines will give their pet autism so they don’t vaccine. Then their pet come in contact with a skunk, raccoon, feral cat, bat, etc… then the whole family gets to go through prophylactic treatment.

Just because you’ve never seen it close up; doesn’t mean it does not exist. It just means veterinary support and environmental health are doing a good job. Rabies is almost 100% fatal, all but two people have died from it, but it still ravaged their nervous systems and it was a long hard journey to speak, eat, control bowels, and walk again.

1

nhluhr t1_ja3oapr wrote

The chances that bat doesn't have rabies are not good. You REALLY need to get the bat tested and potentially begin the rabies vaccine regimen.

Watch this if you need any convincing https://youtu.be/OOu2JjQmS6Y

Just as a reminder, if you wait until you have any symptoms, you are already 100% guaranteed to die miserably from it.

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CornWallacedaGeneral t1_ja52gd4 wrote

OP posts that he found it in his pool...he didn't say the bat landed on him or bit him why tf would he need to begin a vaccine regimen?...you gotta be telling me that just by looking at a bat he's gonna catch rabies...or by grabbing it out of the pool with a pool net on an 8 foot pole is somehow gonna splash the rabies virus on him or something,I know I sound really condescending but I'm genuinely asking you why do you assume Op needs to get on some type of rabies vaccine regimen when his post clearly stated they found it in their pool?

My first assumption without any other information is that OP saved the Bat's life by grabbing it with what I assume is something attached to a pole from a safe distance...but thats just what I assume to be a normal thought process,but you went and gave the whole super safety lecture-gram about OP NEEDING to get the rabies vaccine...why?

25

Txkevo t1_ja57czi wrote

This. 100%. He would use a pool net to get the bat out. Y’all really think he waded in there and scooped it out???

Source: Own a pool and scoop things out with net ALL THE TIME

17

SafetyMan35 t1_ja5jeyf wrote

The one possible exception is if OP was reaching in to empty the skimmer basket, but a bat, mouse, frog or snake there is likely going to succumb to exhaustion and die.

4

Sanity_LARP t1_ja57shs wrote

"look at this zombie I found in my back yard" > "dude be careful, if a zombie bites or scratches you you'll be transformed into the living dead" > "why does everyone freak out about the zombie virus any time someone posts a zombie?"

6

kh1179 t1_ja5fvsj wrote

You don't check for bites or scratches if the zombie never comes in contact with you

8

CornWallacedaGeneral t1_ja584y6 wrote

Nah...thats exactly the opposite of what I'm talking about and you need to brush up on your speed reading comprehension cause your glazing over text game is lacking

−12

nonanon66 t1_ja4nkt8 wrote

Bullets save some misery, so guarantee no. Reference “Old Yeller”

13

viener_schnitzel t1_ja5ff44 wrote

Also, around 14% of dogs will survive rabies infection. So death not a guarantee either.

2

bulboustadpole t1_ja6rkqg wrote

Here we go again with the rabies fear mongering.

In the United States 5 people died of rabies in 2021. That makes it one of the rarest if not the rarest causes of deaths out of literally everything.

3

ACER719x t1_ja6yci2 wrote

Again, because rabies vaccine is often administered in these situations hence why our outcomes are better when compared to less fortunate countries such as India where many are in poverty and can’t afford proper treatment.

5

bulboustadpole t1_ja70n6w wrote

I would love to see some numbers on how many rabies vaccines are administered in the US. My guess is not as much as you would think.

Also this misses the point.

>The chances that bat doesn't have rabies are not good. You REALLY need to get the bat tested and potentially begin the rabies vaccine regimen.

And you know this how? What evidence were you able to gather from a photo of a bat that makes you think it likely has rabies?

An informed person would likely go to get a rabies vaccine but your average person may not. By your logic every person who is near a bat or touched one needs to get immediate vaccinations yet most people do not and the deaths don't match up.

Unless you are actually bitten by an animal such as a bat or another animal that's known to carry rabies you really don't need to get the series of vaccines.

India has higher amounts of rabies and deaths because they don't vaccinate their dogs. Nearly all rabies cases in India are from dogs.

−1

KillstardoAbominate t1_ja8qdlw wrote

> What evidence were you able to gather from a photo of a bat that makes you think it likely has rabies? > >

Simply the fact that it exists and it's a fucking bat. Bats are among the most common animals to have and/or spread rabies. It's pretty fucking simple. If you handle a bat you should probably get the rabies vaccine.

https://www.cdc.gov/rabies/animals/bats/index.html

Edit to add:

>I would love to see some numbers on how many rabies vaccines are administered in the US. My guess is not as much as you would think.

According to the CDC, "only" 30,000 - 60,000 people per year receive rabies vaccines for postexposure.

https://www.cdc.gov/rabies/location/usa/surveillance/human_rabies.html

Also, notice in the list of rabies cases, 13 of the 25 were from bats and how some of them occurred without a known bite.

1

psychRNkris t1_ja3qaav wrote

OP didn't say they were bit, scratched, or didn't wear gloves. Way to overreact.

−62

failjoh t1_ja3w5y8 wrote

Rabies is one to overreact about.

94

KesterFay t1_ja3xbf7 wrote

Doesn't take much. You can miss the point of transmission.

21

Txkevo t1_ja57nzo wrote

Seriously? Do you think he picked up rabies by association? You guys are a lot.

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eggseverydayagain t1_ja40dwj wrote

Have you seen rabies videos?

20

psychRNkris t1_ja457sb wrote

My dad was a veterinarian, I am very aware of rabies and the deadlines of it. Many vets have been elbow deep in a necropsy only to realize the animal died of rabies. That doesn't mean that OP has exposed themselves to rabies. If OP wore gloves to handle the animal, there is no problem. I stand by my statement.

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nhluhr t1_ja47dfp wrote

There is a huge difference between a trained professional handling a dead animal and some Joe air-drying a found critter.

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psychRNkris t1_ja480zj wrote

Gloves. Who on earth would handle a wet wild animal without gloves? And look at the picture. That bat bit no one. And the trained medical professional in my description was absolutely exposed to rabies and got shots.

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Dark_Shade_75 t1_ja4sr7f wrote

Yes, the professional vet always keeps up to date on his shots. Because they know they can't always be perfect. Normal civilians do not get the rabies vaccine as a matter of course. OP should check and potentially get the shot.

11

stevejobed t1_ja54iqh wrote

Lots of people get bitten by bats and don’t know. You are supposed to assume you were bitten if you come in close contact.

4

LtnSkyRockets t1_ja4yr64 wrote

Hey! I just met you~ and this is crazy~ Go call a doctor~ you got rabies~!

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MayoSoup t1_ja5fezy wrote

My tinder date gave me a similar quote too

9

Sir_Jax t1_ja5bsq0 wrote

For fucks sake why do people keep doing this. If you find an injured animal don’t leave it in the sun…. I’ve seen so many people do this with birds, bat, shit even a dog once… you’re just cooking the animal in the sun!!!! Exposure kills! If you’ve been stuck in a pool with a light and UV reflecting all around you the whole time The last thing you want to do is be in more sun… especially if you’re a fucking BAT! Somewhere dark cool and dry.

And if you’re not in Australia then yeah, really worry about rabies. Thank fuck we don’t have that shit here

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Bac7 t1_ja5jv4c wrote

I just snort cackled. You have spiders that would kill a fucking elephant and little tiny jellyfish that y'all give cure names like sea wasp that kill people, and all manners of deadly shit. But thank fuck for no rabies!

I appreciated that laugh, thanks.

16

Sir_Jax t1_jaa015h wrote

Yeah exactly no rabies!!!! It’s really important we never let that shit into this country, can you even imagine how fucking horrible this shit would be if it also had rabies.

2

secretlifeofpuffins t1_ja603a2 wrote

We don’t have rabies but we do have ABLV which is another type of lyssavirus. And of course there is also Hendra virus, the one that went from bats to horses to humans and makes you die a terrible death hemorrhaging out of every possible orriface. Yeah I’m pretty much convinced lyssavirus from bats will be the cause of the zombie apocalypse. Bats = NOPE!!

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Handicapreader OP t1_ja61mtu wrote

It's winter. The pool is cold af. Bats are warm blooded animals. The little guy was freezing.

When he warmed up and dried off and turned back into a fuzzball, then I gave him some shade while he slept it off.

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68plus1equals t1_ja6jhsy wrote

You need rabies shots dude

12

souse03 t1_ja6qfra wrote

And get that bat tested for rabies while you have the chance

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KillstardoAbominate t1_ja8oye8 wrote

>And get that bat tested for rabies while you have the chance

So kill it, immediately after going through the effort of saving it.

1

Sesamechama t1_ja85j1k wrote

Thanks for saving the sky puppy! I hope the little guy is doing alright now.

Just to be on the safe side, please do see a doc about the rabies thing. We need good people like you to stay on this earth. 🤗

3

jaceapoc t1_ja6896y wrote

Cooking the bat with the sun during winter is fucking crazy

Lmfao I’m dead

3

Handicapreader OP t1_ja61a6j wrote

Update:

It's February here. The pool is really cold. I glanced over and saw something swimming in the pool. I thought it was another turtle, but nope. It was a bat swimming in my pool trying to find a bank to climb out of. I didn't know what to think at first, but I snapped a couple of pics and then I grabbed the pool net.

I dropped him on the patio gently and he was moving a little bit, but he was lathargic af. I dumped some of my water on him to rinse off the chlorine, but it was ice water and he immediately shivered. Then I went inside and brought back some warm water and slowly dumped it on him, and he noticeably enjoyed it.

He quickly balled back up and made my patio his bed. That's no good with a dog, so I got a towel and made him a little makeshift bat cave off of my smoker.

I just checked and he's gone. It was a successful bat rescue. :)

To everyone worried about bats and rabies, bats are a tremendous asset to our environment. They don't have any higher propensity for getting rabies than any other woodland creature.

https://avmajournals.avma.org/view/journals/javma/258/11/javma.258.11.1205.xml

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68plus1equals t1_ja6joxn wrote

Nobody dislikes bats, a 100% mortality rate just isn’t worth a risk

11

KillstardoAbominate t1_ja8x8zx wrote

The link you shared shows bats having the second highest number of positive rabies cases. But also, who gives a fuck if the chance of it having rabies is low? If you handled it with no gloves (hell even if you did use gloves imo,) you should talk to your doctor. Rabies is fatal once you start showing symptoms.

For the record, I'm glad you saved it because, as you said, they are an incredibly important part of nature. But that doesn't change anything else I said.

2

GingervitisFL t1_ja90aej wrote

You are awesome thanks for warm water shower and the love. How did you get him to the towel. Did you ever directly touch him?

1

Br1887 t1_ja5b2qf wrote

Some of you never leave your house and spend 20+ hours a day on Reddit, and it shows.

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pseudocultist t1_ja66gmd wrote

My god the panic in here is thick. Y'all know we as a species have been interacting with bats regularly for centuries, in our homes, and it's INCREDIBLY rare for something like this to happen right? I have a colony of little brown bats in my eaves. It's a 122-year-old house, that happens. And they're federally protected so I leave them be. About a half dozen times a year I have to escort one of the little guys out. My parents had the same ritual with their 100+ year old house. Etc. NBD. According to this thread I have rabies at least 50, 60 times over now, my pets are rabid, my house is rabid, the land itself is rabid. IDK what we'll all do when it rains.

23

kouklah t1_ja69oea wrote

the land be foaming at the mouth 😩

5

Proper_Support_1798 t1_ja6ov81 wrote

got an old shop on the farm that they fly around at night inside, if youre at the bench under the light they swoop catching the bugs while i stand there.

id rather get bit by a bat than explain life to one of these panicky kids.

1

chienamoure t1_ja6pd77 wrote

I love watching bats come out at dusk on a summer night

3

fungiyenta t1_ja3mkwx wrote

Using leather gloves, you should put it on a branch or something it can “take off” from. Bats can die when they are somewhere they can’t swoop down from.

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Handicapreader OP t1_ja3piy7 wrote

Did the best I could.

I stuck him under the grate instead of on top top. I gave him a long stick and a string to choose from if he doesn't climb up to the grating assuming he needs to hang to take off.

26

entrepeneur888 t1_ja4lg5m wrote

Hey man please go to the doctor to get a rabies shot , even if the bat didn’t bite or scratch you there could be microlesions on your skin or through fluid from the bat. I am saying this out of genuine concern

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Nagi21 t1_ja70vwu wrote

Bruh… this thread is starting to sound like the fucking aids panic.

6

Agile-Entertainer270 t1_ja50i8l wrote

You are a good person but unfortunately rabies won’t care about that - please get checked immediately.

I know someone who was on a treatment plan because a bat was found in the cabin he was staying in, he didn’t even touch it and still had to be treated for rabies.

24

dyingfi5h t1_ja4ttlp wrote

Thank you for doing this it is super sweet. I am concerned for your safety too though, if it is possible to get rabies without injury please check yourself and your dog if they got near it as well.

9

dalma19 t1_ja6qi0p wrote

Please contact your local wildlife rescue. A bat alone is a bat in need. Bats are good for the environment as they help in pollination and diversification of plant species. (I follow Megabattie and Batzilla on YouTube). Never touch a bat with bare hands. Please put him in the shade or put a box over him and some soft fruit to munch if he can. The poor thing is obviously dehydrated and in shock. He needs to rest. Unless he's dead already. Poor batty.

6

megavolt121 t1_ja4x3yw wrote

I see the irony of you drying him out on your smoker…

5

thomasevans435 t1_ja5550z wrote

Rabies is no joke. Quarantine the animal. Call animal control. Bats are a known reservoir for the disease in the US (assuming you’re in the US).

If there is even a chance you got bit the CDC says you get shots.

Don’t take chances with stuff like this.

3

xxBeatrixKiddoxx t1_ja56yxq wrote

And yet everyone is like “Found a bat in my undies! He’s good… seems happy! I French kissed him and set him outside with my newborn baby! All is good. “

Like Bro. Where the fuck have you been on rabies dog?

0

AntiPiety t1_ja58bn1 wrote

I went exploring while on vacation once and found a cave with a bunch of bats in it. They were in big groups hanging from the ceiling, and flying around inside. I have videos of it. Never got the rabies shots and it sounds like I got lucky

3

NumberOneRyan t1_ja5yfvb wrote

when you’re waiting for him to bring a towel

3

Nick_Coglistro t1_ja6e36m wrote

we can't stop here

this is bat country

3

Proper_Support_1798 t1_ja6o8ia wrote

good job saving the bat.

you are fine, you dont have rabies, dont listen to these 75 IQ dipshits.

2

TCOliver1 t1_ja6uat7 wrote

I'm starting to see where Jim Henson might have gotten his ideas for some of his puppets

2

Beantownbrews t1_ja5nrg6 wrote

Congratulations on your upcoming rabies vaccinations

1

Affectionate_Emu7964 t1_ja661b1 wrote

1 to 3 cases annually is not common this is for US

1

ACER719x t1_ja6yl8v wrote

Again, our rates are low because in this country we vaccinate anyone exposed.

2

jordiculous t1_ja7iept wrote

I hope you didn’t touch it with your bare hands 😬

1

MusicalMerlin1973 t1_ja7zyj1 wrote

If you touched it, time to start going in for your rabies shots.

Fun fact. Only ers carry that shot now. That’s an er bill for every shot.

1

annizka t1_jaaxld1 wrote

I’d get a rabies shot, just in case

1

AlexgKeisler t1_ja65w3x wrote

Bats often have Rabies - AKA, the only virus in the world with a 100% case fatality rate. Yes, Rabies is more lethal than HIV. Don't touch bats.

0

Jelly-Unhappy t1_ja6z8fs wrote

Got bitten by a bat before, went straight to the ER. Thank god that doctor was cute or I would have kicked him, the rabies shots hurt so so badly.

I would go. By the time you feel anything, it’s already too late.

0

Spanky20121 t1_ja7sxh5 wrote

Remember where was Corona virus come from??? Careful.

0

rHereLetsGo t1_ja4pav0 wrote

I rarely say this about species that creep me out and I wish didn’t exist, but I know your intentions are good in doing the “humane” thing. I don’t disagree that the rabies risk is a concern but I hope next time you look the bat is gone and you don’t ever encounter it again.

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itsanjo t1_ja69r22 wrote

My friend got peed on by a bat out camping and he ended up in the hospital for a few days.

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rfunnymodisapunk t1_ja4zr03 wrote

Came for the scaredy-cat rabies comments... Not leaving disappointed lol

Bat in pool... Rabies Friendly fox on back porch... Rabies Pissed off dog... Rabies Cat bite you?.... Rabies

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